


In All Its Guises

by neveralarch



Category: The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neveralarch/pseuds/neveralarch
Summary: Here is a story. Some part of it is probably true.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2019





	In All Its Guises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tangentti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangentti/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide!

Here is a story. 

Once there was a woman wanted to know if she would ever have the power she craved. She was a powerful woman in some people's eyes: she had wealth, and land, and livestock, and a husband who loved her. But something inside of her hungered for power over people, to give orders and be listened to, and she would not be satisfied by the light bonds of wealth. She wanted fealty.

She prayed to the gods to know her own destiny and she was answered, quite quickly, by the Myriad.

"Hello," said the Myriad. "You have a very lovely home."

The woman didn't particularly care for compliments in the normal course of things. But she knew that gods couldn't lie, so she valued this compliment almost as high as gold. As the god spoke, the woman could see that her home _was_ lovely, that it was comfortable and richly furnished. It was true.

"I want to know," said the woman, "will I—"

"I know your thoughts," said the Myriad. "You need not speak. Someday, yes, someday your hunger will be satisfied."

But the woman was cleverer than that. She knew that even though gods couldn't lie, there were ways and ways to play with the truth. Perhaps she'd eat a good meal and be full, and the Myriad would call that satisfied. That wasn't the answer she wanted.

"Will I ever rule?" asked the woman. "Or will my husband?"

The Myriad was quiet for a long time, or as quiet as she could be. The hum of insect wings filled the room, but no words were spoken.

"Your husband will rule," said the Myriad, at last. "And you will rule over him."

The woman was pleased with that. Gods couldn't lie. She made sacrifices to the Myriad, and promised her all the belief the woman possessed, and the belief and sacrifices of her future subjects. The Myriad hummed around the room, and then left through an open window, out of the lovely home and into the darkening countryside.

Did the woman rule, in the end? 

Perhaps. 

The Myriad knows how to spin a truth, and she knows that all things are true in some respect. She isn't as solid as some of her friends, and she doesn't expect the rest of the world to conform every part of itself to her words. The sky is blue, you say? Yes, yes, it is. But the sky is also red and orange and black and cloudy white. If the Myriad says the sky is green, well, some small corner of the sky is surely green.

What is, in the end, truth?

I can tell you that the woman died with bloody hands, and her husband died soon after. Perhaps that is a consequence of her hunger. Or perhaps such tragedy can happen to us all, if the truths line up in just the right way.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * A [Restricted Work] by [silverandblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverandblue/pseuds/silverandblue) Log in to view. 




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